Chaos Spirits: Reborn
by SkylertTH
Summary: The story of the Chaos Emeralds has never been told...now take a journey back into the past to learn of the tale of those who were the holders of their powers. Old fanfiction getting a reboot, do NOT complain about the story.
1. Prologue

**Chaos Spirits – Reborn : Prologue**

**Disclaimer: All official Sonic related characters and terms belong to SEGA and Sonic Team. All fan characters are owned by me and Deus Ex Procella. All story ideas are owned by me and Deus Ex Procella alone, do NOT copy this story and post it as your own. This is a reboot of an old series I originally did before I started to post on again, do not ask me to post the old version up. To make things clear, yes my story is different from the story told by SEGA , Sonic Team, and Bioware. Don't like it? Deal and get the hell out of here. I will not take ANY bullshit from haters or people telling me how to write it.**

As far back as anyone in the present day could remember, the Chaos Emeralds have always been a source of power. For each and every use of their incredible power, there has always been a reason for it. Whether it be to power an electric plant, various machines, or to fore fill self purposes. The emeralds have also serve as a key point in the many battles between the world renowned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog and his arch nemesis, Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Each of their many clashes occasionally has either side trying to gather the seven mystical emeralds before the other could do so.

Despite their history of being used as sources of power by their users, the Chaos Emeralds have an origin that no one can truly know about. A story that happened before the wrath of Perfect Chaos brought utter destruction Knuckles' clan, before the creation of the Ultimate Life form, Shadow the Hedgehog, before the invasion of the Black Arms alien race and before Dark Gaia was prematurely awakened by Eggman, there was a time when the planet was much different then it is today. But to learn of the true story of the emeralds we must travel back in time to about 5000 years ago; when the earth was still young and new.

Back in these times, humanity had not yet evolved as a race of their own, instead the planet was inhabited by anthropomorphic beings known as "Mobians." The Mobians were animals that carried a specific gene that allowed them to evolve walking on four legs to walking on two, as well as developing language before the first words were ever spoken by man kind. When the first Mobians existed, it was a time of peace, prosperity and love. There was no hate in the world, it was truly a beautiful utopia to behold; however, like most good things, it was not meant to last forever.

Soon the many species of the planet began to develop feelings of hate, jealously, and greed for their fellow Mobians' different lifestyles and not shortly after confrontation was brought from their differences. Eventually the confrontations gave birth to one of the darkest times the planet has ever known to exist, the first Great War. As the Great War raged on for nearly a century, the Mobians began to form tribes consisting solely of their own kind. Prime examples of this were the more common hedgehogs, echindas, foxes, and bats that took up a vast majority of the fighters in the Great War. Peace had not been seen by the Mobians for many years, as the war continued to take countless lives for such petty differences between each other.

That is, until high powers from above had seen enough brutal carnage from their violent and primitive ways. Thus they blackened the morning light with a dark circle for thirty minutes, as they sent down towards their chosen being, seven different colored emeralds. Each emerald, holding their own unique and powerful element.

The red emerald carried within it the warm and gentle, yet at times dangerous and destructive, power of fire. Its twin emerald, the light blue emerald, held within the unforgiving sheer cold power of ice. The dark blue emerald held the calm and peaceful, yet often dangerous, power of water. The green emerald held the smooth and patient power of earth. The silver emerald held the reckless power of wind. The yellow emerald held the warm and nurturing power of light. And lastly, the seventh one, the purple emerald, held the dark, mysterious and terrifying power of the shadows.

With these emeralds, the chosen hero of the gods, Arthas the Hedgehog stepped into what was perhaps one of the bloodiest battles of the first Great War. He stood alone on top of a hill top, the emeralds floating behind him as he stared down at the raging armies battle for supremacy and control. When the armies finally noticed him, standing alone on the of hill with seven strange lights floating around him, the armies could tell that held some strange and mystical power.

Just like most armies, if they see something that could make them more powerful than the others, they would go after the source of the power. For a brief moment, the armies united together as they rushed towards Arthas as each one had the intention of making the power he had as their own.

The lone hedgehog did not move from his spot as the armies rushed towards him. The seven emeralds floating all around him as he watched them charge with such greed and lust for power. Finally, he held up one hand towards the armies as he said in a powerful voice that drowned out the roars of the armies.

"This war has gone on for far too long! With the power of these mystical gems, I shall it it...ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

As soon as he said his sentence, a powerful blast of energy exploded from the palm of his hand that was large enough to envelop each and single army that was charging towards him. It was a historical moment in the earliest history of the planet, the first Great War was ended by the power of a single hedgehog who had seen enough violence for a life time.

When the great war finally ended the tribes were brought together by the wisdom and leadership of Arthas, who was revered as the first ever hero in their history. Under his leadership the planet was, once again, given peace and happiness as the first kingdom was born. If a problem ever arose, King Arthas would use the power of the emeralds to protect his kingdom from any harm, but would never abuse their power for small petty needs. He was truly a king that deserved everyone's respect, and admiration.

But, just like before, all good things are not meant to last. Shortly, after his given birth to his children, King Arthas suddenly died of a vicious virus. Before he died, he named his children and requested one thing from his best friend and confidant with his dying breath as the virus forced him to cough up large amounts of blood.

"The emeralds...make sure they are never used for evil..."

With that, the first great king passed away, in the arms of his best friend. The whole world seemed to have stopped turning as they grieved over the loss of a powerful, wise, and courageous leader. Arthas was soon buried in secret place that only his wife, servants, and best friend knew of. Shortly after, the dark times began to slowly take hold of the tribes once more as old blood feuds began to stir once more and threats to the widow queen and her infant children were made. This forced the queen to go into hiding with her children while the tribes began to fight amongst each other once more, soon each tribe took for themselves a single emerald. This act, started the second Great War.

While not as long as the first Great War, the second was far more destructive and bloody. With each tribe member fueled by the power of the emeralds, more soldiers fell in battle, homes were destroyed, and innocent lives were taken even before they were born. The war was so destructive and chaotic, it gave the emeralds their infamous title, the Chaos Emeralds.

As the second Great War continued for nearly a total of five years, the gods once again were upset about how violent and greedy the Mobians had become. Then for the second time in history, they darkened the daylight with a black circle for half an hour. This time, they were determined to halt the destruction for good. Once more they sent another emerald to the planet, only this time it would become the very solution to stopping the second Great War. The controller of the seven Chaos Emeralds, the true source of infinite power, the one thing that can stop the powers of the Chaos Emeralds if they were ever abused; the Master Emerald itself.

Shortly after-wards, the great emerald was approached by an echinda whose name had been lost after the death of Arthas. The echinda, with his dying breath, begged the Master Emerald to end the carnage the second great war had caused to the planet. As he dyed in front of the controller of the seven Chaos Emeralds, the large emerald gave off a warm radiant light seemed to engulf the entire planet with soothing feelings; as well as draining the power of the emeralds away. Thus, the second Great War had come to an end. After-wards, the leader of each tribe, came to the temple where the Master Emerald was placed and placed their signature emeralds on the pillars surrounding it.

The leaders, the wisest of those who remembered the lessons of Arthas, knew that this was a test of the gods. Because of their hate and greed, the Mobians were not allowed to touch the Chaos Emeralds ever again; however if they could prove themselves to the gods that they would abandon their lust for power and live peacefully they might be given a single emerald as protection against an invading foreign army. Since that day, none of the tribes who were involved with the second Great War went near the alter of the emeralds.

For the longest time, peace had seemed to finally return to the world after such a destructive war. But once again, it was not meant to last. A foreign species of Mobian, approached the alter one day, enticed by the energy the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald were admitting. He soon was filled with the lust to gain their power as his own, but in the end he was rejected for his greed and was flung out of the peaceful lands by the emeralds' themselves.

The gods knew at this point that could never truly trust the mortals with the incredible power of the emeralds. After much debate between them all, they finally reached an agreement that they could all agree on with each other. Since the one who tried to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds was not a member of any of the local tribes, the gods would separate the Chaos Emeralds from each other as they chose their appropriate wielders of the elements. When they had chosen those they had deemed worthy of the Chaos Emeralds' powers, they scattered them to each of the different tribes. With the exception of the purple Chaos Emerald, which for some reason always stayed close to the Master Emerald. The others though went to the beings that would become their carriers. Interestingly enough though, the red and light blue emeralds were sent to the same exact location; a tribe that had been formed by the unification of the Fire and Ice Tribes.

For years, no one has seen or ever spoke of the Chaos Emeralds ever since the gods chose those that would wield their powers. This, is the untold story of those wielders, their adventures as the chosen ones, and the danger they would face together as....the Chaos Spirits.

_**Prologue: End**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: ****The Hedgehog Twins and the Echidna Girl **

"Hey, you! Give that back! Stop thief! I said stop!"

The teenaged hedgehog sighed as he continued to run from the guards, carrying the piece of meat he stole closely to him. As of late it was hard trying to get by in the Fire and Ice tribe, most of it was due to the fact that rival thieves were getting better at stealing then he was, but being spotted so easily in the early morning before anyone was truly awake? It was too much to believe for the hedgehog as he continued to run quickly.

"Geesh," he muttered to himself, "You think stealing a piece of meat would be easy to do these days."

His attention was soon attracted to what was in front of him, a passage way was being blocked off by a number of guards that were after him for some time. He groaned in annoyance, drifting to turn around and head the other way but stopped when he saw another bunch of guards running towards him from behind. He groaned in annoyance as they began to surround him in a circular formation, all of them with holding their swords tightly. The hedgehog smirked a bit and tossed the meat up and down in the air as the guards looked at him in confusion.

"Well now, this is interesting." He said, "Looks like you guys actually planned out a trap for me this time instead of the usual."

The guards just glared at the hedgehog as he continued to throw the meat up into the air with confidence. The captain of the troop stepped forward as the hedgehog, his sword pointing right at the young thief just in case he tried something different.

"We've got you know, the red thief of our beloved tribe and home, Sky the Hedgehog." The captain said, almost smiling at the thought of getting rid of his hated enemy.

Sky just continued to smirk at the captain, dusting off his brown jeans and black leather jacket with his free hand while the other kept throwing the piece of meat into the air. He stood at an average height for most hedgehogs, about three feet and four inches tall, his quills in a short fashion while he had three bangs covering some of his forehead.

"Aw now, come on Cap, you make it sound like I committed a serious crime." Sky said, in a playful matter, which earned him a death glare from the head guard.

"Stealing food IS a criminal offense, if you're lucky the only penalty you would receive is the lost of one of you're hands!"  
"Pft, all for a piece of meat? Come on, don't think that's just a little harsh?"

The captain growled in anger and swung his sword towards Sky's neck, but before the blade could make contact with it he stopped his swing. With only a few inches separating Sky's naked neck from the sword, the captain stared into the ruby red eyes of his nemesis.

"Unfortunately, for you, Sky, since you have been a thorn in our side for so long the penalty is even worse. If you are found guilty of all your crimes, which you are, you will be put to death."

Sky sighed as he took two of his finger tips and grabbed the flat part of the sword that was close to his neck. With no effort at all he pushed the blade away with a small push; his eyes narrowing a bit.

"You would put to death someone who is just trying to survive in these crazy times?" He asked, admittedly annoyed at the threat the captain had just given him.

"Whether or not if times are hard, Sky, you have committed the same crime multiple times and we do not take kindly to the same thing over and over again. Now put the meat down and surrender yourself to our control before we force you to come quietly.

The red hedgehog sighed, it looked like there was no getting out of this mess without a fight. He glanced to a dark ally way, as if he was waiting for someone or something to come out of it. He turned back to the captain as he continued to throw the meat up into the air. Sky closed his eyes as he caught the piece of meat once more, but did not throw it into the air again.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way...."

The moment he said that, a ash blue blur flew out of the dark alley, previously overlooked, kneeing one of the guards in the neck at full speed. The guard yelped in pain and surprise, dropping his sword from the impact. The blur snatched the sword and stood back to back with Sky.

"Took your sweet ass time, huh bro?"

The new figure was yet another hedgehog, identical in size and build to Sky, though far different in demeanor. The newcomer scowled, a disinterested look on his face. His hair, identical to his doppleganger, was notably longer. Similarly, he wore a near identical outfit of inverted coloration: a brown leather jacket with black jeans. His eyes were not warm ruby red, like his double. Instead, they were a sharp, chilly shade of emerald green. . He glanced back at Sky, who the newest members of the guard could tell the two were twins.

"Hmph, you owe me for this...can't even do a simple meat hijacking right."

"Ah give me a break, Chronic, not my fault they decided to buff up security while we were away." Sky said, holding onto the piece of meat tightly in his hands.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Chronic said, his eyes turning back to the guards that were in front of his view. "The usual tactic I presume?"

Sky nodded to his brother only once; which got him a smirk from Chronic. The two pulled out two black orbs and tossed them towards the ground with incredible force. The impact between the orbs and the ground released a thick black cloud of smoke, clouding the vision of the guards and the captain the moment it had appeared. Shortly afterward, the smoke cleared away and the twin hedgehogs were gone from the spot they once were at. The captain growled in anger, kicking the dirt at his feet in aggravation.

"Dammit! Damn those two to hell! I almost had him, I swear I almost had him!!!"

XxXxXxX

About nine hundred yards away from the raging captain and his soldiers, who would have to deal with his wrath for the next hour or so, the two twin hedgehogs sat on top of an abandon house's rooftop. Sky sighed in annoyance, looking down at the piece of meat he had just stolen from a small merchant store.

"This is getting ridiculous," he said, "when we came back from our little break security was never this tight."

"It's like you said before," Chronic said, with an uninterested tone of voice, "times are getting harder. Even common thieves like us, who had it easy in the early days, are feeling the pressure."

Sky sighed, knowing that his brother was right about their situation. He half heartrendingly smiled as he glanced back at Chronic.

"You think things would be different if mom didn't disappear that one day?"

Chronic leered at his brother, as much as he hated to admit it, things were easier when they had their mother's guidance when they were younger. Though things were much different back then, a subject Sky knew was sensitive with his twin.

"You know how I feel about that, Sky."

"You can't just keep avoiding the subject, Chronic." Sky said, standing up from his spot.

"Not only can I, but I will."

With that, the ash blue hedgehog stood up as well and began to head towards the stairs near the rooftop's opening. Sky rolled his eyes following his twin brother down the stairs into their warehouse, looking around the area carefully, to make sure no guards were looking for them, before heading inside with Chronic.

Their base, despite being a warehouse, was actually quiet empty inside. Which made it a very deceiving place and the perfect hide away from the local law enforcers. In the middle of the floor, was a small fireplace that the two used to cock food and to stay warm during cold nights. Chronic had already set it up to cook the meat that Sky was lucky enough to get away with. Sky smiled a bit, knowing that his brother was just as hungry as he was.

"A little eager, aren't we?"

"Just shut up and start a fire already, would you?"

Sky rolled his eyes in annoyance, normally he did not like to take orders from Chronic but the two were hungry so he had no choice but to do what he said. He placed the piece of meat on top of the pieces of wood that laid over the fireplace by a couple of inches. Then he took out his hand and pointed the palm of it towards the logs that were already placed in the circle. He closed his eyes, feeling a burning sensation that began to take form in his palm. When he was certain that he had absolute control over the sensation, he opened his eyes.  
"Ok, here we go."

A small fireball was fired out of his palm, instantly hitting the large logs that Chronic had gathered. The fire soon began to consume all of the logs as the heat from the burning wood began to rise up towards the piece of meat that was laying on the boards above. The intense heat began to warm the once raw piece of meat into a delicious and delectable meal that could feed both hedgehogs for the night. Sky smiled in victory as he turned the meat over gently to make sure that each side was warm enough. When he was absolutely sure of this, he turned to Chronic and nodded once.

"All right, it's your turn."

Chronic, with a boring expression, held his hand out towards the fire that Sky had started. A faint blue glow surrounded his hand as a cool chilling wind of ice covered over the fire, putting it out without any effort at all. The ash blue hedgehog sat down on his seat, taking a piece of the meat from the wood and began chewing on it. Sky sighed as he took his own piece and sat down from across his twin brother, the warm and savoring flavor of the meat touching on his taste buds.

"Always a pleasant one, Chronic."

"Yeah, I'm a damned model of geniality."  
"Shut up and eat your meat."

An hour passed as the two hedgehogs eat the meal that they had barely been able to get away with. The two brothers, learning recently that they had powers over the elements of fire and ice, knew that if they had to, they had a huge advantage over the guards with them. However, when they learned that they did have these strange new powers, they realized that they had to gain control of them or else they would destroy their home tribe. Despite being hated by most of the civilization of the tribe, it was still their home and they had no where else to go.

So, they left the tribe for about three weeks. This led them to getting use to their unnatural abilities and also gave them advantages for the hot summer days and cold winter nights that the two would find themselves in.

Soon, it was the afternoon and the two knew that sooner or later, they would have to go out and steal once again.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go?" Chronic asked, "After today's early get away I'm afraid to trust you to get anything anymore."

"One slip up doesn't mean that it will ruin the rest of the day for me." Sky replied, stretchering out a bit before heading towards the door.

"Besides, even if I do get in trouble you can find me anyway."

"Yeah, but that's because the mess you make is easy to spot."

The red hedgehog just gave a glancing glare to his twin brother before opening the door. When he was certain that no one was around the warehouse, he jumped out and began running towards the market place yet again; this time determined to avoid any attention.

XxxXxXxX

Moments later, Sky found himself perched in a perfect hiding place. A small rooftop that had the best view of the entire market, not to mention that it was also a good place to lay low until the guards had moved away. He smiled to himself, watching the busy streets of the fire and ice tribe with hawk like vision, seeking out any type of opportunity that he could get.

"Now then," he whispered to himself, "just who is the right one to pluck from today?"

"Hey, lady! Watch where you're going!"

Sky's ears seemed to perk up from the voice he had just heard, this drew his attention to one of the local hedgehogs, ranting at a being in a dark brown cloak. His curiosity began to take over his attention, watching with great interest as the being in the cloak stood behind the ranting hedgehog.

"I-I'm sorry..." the cloaked person said, just by the quiet and gentle tone in her voice, Sky could tell the being was a girl. Though why she was wearing a cloak in this intense heat was beyond his reasoning.

"Sorry?!" the hedgehog yelled in anger, "Sorry?! That's all you can say?! You nearly tripped me!"

"It's just that...I..."

Her voice seemed to trail off, the angry hedgehog advanced on the cloaked being. He was so angry that you could see the blood veins on his eyes. Sky sighed, this usually happened during a busy rush hour. Two people would walk into each other, they would start a huge fight, and the guards would appear to break it up. However, this time it looked like it would be a one sided fight.

"It's just that you're what? That you're too stupid to keep out of people's ways?!"

"I...I didn't see you..."

The hedgehog growled and grabbed the hood of the cloak, trying to pull it off which was only being stopped by the cloaked being's hands grabbing his wrist.  
"I'll tell you why you didn't see me," he snarled, "it's because you're wearing this damn cloak! Take it off!"

"N-No! I-I can't do that!"

"Why the hell not, girl?!"

"I...I h-have a bad skin c-condition!"

The hedgehog just glared at her, taking his free hand and grabbing the other side of her cloak and began to pull even harder then before.  
"Bull shit you have a skin condition!" With a successful tug, he managed to pull off the cloak that was covering the girl, "Now, face up for your...stupid..."

His voice just seemed to trail off as he stood at the being that was hidden underneath the cloak. Sky sat straight up from his perch to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. They weren't, standing right there in front of the once angry hedgehog, was a female echidna.

"I don't believe it..." He whispered.

The echidna took a small step back away from the hedgehog that had pulled off her only defense from being seen by the rest of the tribe. When he had first laid eyes on her, Sky could have sworn that he had just saw an angel enter his homeland. Despite the fact she was an echidna, she was very beautiful to look at. Her dreadlocks, as well as the rest of her body, had a red orange hue that seemed to reflect the sunlight's glow. She wore a small light tan shirt that revealed her midriff and a long skirt that had many different designs as well as a pair of matching sandals. He couldn't help but smile a bit, for an echidna, she was pretty cute. However, the others though...

"Echidna!" They started to shout, each of them looking for something to throw at the young girl. If there ever was something that Sky hated to watch, it was his clan's extreme bigamist towards the other Mobian species that they shared this planet with. He turned away, not wanting to watch them throw stones at the young girl. He closed his eyes, telling himself not to do anything stupid or reckless, not when he had his own problems to worry about. Let the girl get stoned, he told himself, it's better that you don't get caught by the guards, let her take the hate of the tribe. That's what his brother, Chronic would say.

However, Sky was not Chronic in the slightest bit.

He opened his eyes and stood up on the small roof he was laying on. His eyes narrowed as he jumped towards the crowd that was surrounding the echidna; rocks flying out of every direction. He landed in front of her, taking most of the rocks for her so she would be spared any pain they would cause to her body. The crowd suddenly stopped throwing their rocks, surprised to see someone of their own kind stand up for another Mobian species. Sky's eyes narrowed, he glanced back at the girl, who watched him stand in front of her. He smiled somewhat at her with a friendly face as he returned his attention to the crow. For sometime, there was only silence, but then Sky held up his arm towards the crowd and lowered his voice in a deep threatening manner.

"You leave her alone..."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Strangers Like Me**

The citizens of the tribe were shocked. Not just because they were looking at their tribe's infamous thief, Sky, but shocked to see him sticking up for someone that was not his own kind. The echidna girl behind him watched carefully as he stood in front of his hedgehog kind, holding his hand out in a threatening manner towards them. Before she could say anything though, Sky smirked and glanced back towards her behind him real quickly.

"Hey, are you OK?" He asked, his voice much gentler then the hedgehog who assaulted her before.

She stared at him with big blue eyes, almost unable to say a single word as he stood there. Finally, she nodded her head at him. Sky smiled at her again when she did this.

"Don't worry, you just leave these guys to me." He said, this time his voice sounded much friendlier then the rest.

The girl nodded again, watching as her new protector stood there in front of the other hedgehogs turn his attention back to them.

"You guys are pretty low, you know that?" He asked.

"J-Just what do you think you're doing?!" A voice came from the crowd, which so happened to belong to the same hedgehog who attacked the echidna.

"Funny, I should be asking the same thing to you." Sky answered, glaring at the hedgehog with angry eyes.

"I was only doing what our tribe has always-"

"Always done what? Scream like an idiot and begin a riot by throwing rocks at a helpless girl?" Sky asked, cutting off the hedgehog before he could finish his sentence.

"She's an echidna! She doesn't belong in our tribe!"

**"**"Whether she belongs, or is not allowed to stay, doesn't mean you can just selfishly attack her for doing absolutely nothing wrong!" Sky said, this time his eyes flared with anger.

"I should beat you into a pulp right where you are right now..."

The hedgehog from before growled in anger, charging at Sky out of pure disgust and hate. Sky smirked and threw a left hook right into the hedgehog's cheek quickly. The other hedgehogs gasped as they saw Sky easily take down the ranting fool that started the mess. The echidna stared in amazement, still in shock to see someone defend her from his own kind. Sky smirked and turned to the rest of the hedgehogs in the crowd, he gestured them a motion that basically said "Bring it on."

The crowd looked at each other, then back to Sky. Without a second thought they all ran away before anyone else could get hurt from one of Sky's attacks. The renegade hedgehog smirked in victory, turning back to the girl that he was protecting from the others.

"There, they're not gonna bug you anymore." He said, holding his hand out to her, "The name's Sky, what's your's?"

Before she could say anything though, a spear flew from behind Sky and slashed him across his arm. Sky winced a bit at the pain, but didn't overreact to it like most people would about a scratch. He turned his head around and growled in frustration, the one person he didn't want to see after the earlier meat heist today.

"Great, the Captain's here now."

"We've got you this time, surrender yourself now!"

Sky groaned as he bent down and picked up the echidna girl in his arms, which caused her to gasp a bit as he picked her up.

"W-What are you doing" She asked.

"Hold on tight, things about to get hot."

Sky smirked and jumped over the guards and the captain, running at full speed as they chased after him. The red hedgehog glanced back a bit to see how far they were from his position, he smirked as they got further and further from him and the girl he was carrying. However, he saw something that made his heart almost stop, two of them were riding on horses as they began to catch up. Sky grunted a bit, he was faster then the normal guards, but he was not fast enough to outrun a horse, let alone two of them.

"Not good." He muttered, holding onto the girl tightly as they gained speed.

"Y-You've gotta do something!"

Sky sighed, he was really hoping he wouldn't have to use his elemental powers now, but it seemed like he had no choice but to do so. He bent down as he stopped running suddenly and jumped as high as he could into the air, just in time to avoid the two horse riders at the right moment. He then took one of his hands, while the other was holding onto the girl he had saved, and fired a fireball that cut off him from the guards. The horses freaked as they saw the fire, refusing to go near it as their riders tried to regain control of them. Sky smirked, the fire wasn't a exactly the biggest fire in the world, but it was large enough to keep them busy while he made a get away. He landed on top of a roof top and jumped each one as quickly as he legs would allow him to, as well as his wound.

XxxXx

A couple of minutes later, Sky and the girl stopped on a rather large roof that no one would even bother to look up at half the time. It was during this time, Sky realized just how bad of a cut his arm had. He put his hand over the cut, trying to suppress the bleeding by pressing against it really hard. This had little effect as blood still escaped from the wound as it ran down his arm.

"Dammit, that guard had a really good aim." He growled in frustration.

"L-Let me take a look at it."

Sky raised his eye brow at the echidna; what could she do to treat the wound that would be better than what he could. For some reason though, he had an overwhelming feeling that he could trust her no matter what. He nodded once and took his hand off the cut, watching her carefully as she approached him and place her two hands over the cut.

"I'm just like you, you know." She said.

"What do you mean just lik-"

Before he could finish his sentence however, he noticed her hands glowing brightly with a yellowish hue covering them. Sky's eyes grew in amazement at the sight, the light coming from her hands was warm, comforting, and it was very soothing. He didn't realize it at first, but the pain that had been coursing through out his arm was finally dying down as the girl's hands continued to shine over his wound. Soon, the glow around the echidna's hands died down as she moved them away from his arm. The cut had completely disappeared, no scar or blood was left from where it had been. Sky looked at the girl, completely shocked at what he had just seen.

"H-How did you do that?" He asked.

The girl blushed a bit as she looked down towards her feet, putting her hands behind her back in an embarrassed sort of pose.

"I uh, well, like you, I have powers. Except mine just kind of heal people's wounds and such...I'm no fighter."

Questions rose up in Sky's head. How did she gain powers? Who was she? Where did she come from? But the biggest one on his mind was why he had a feeling that she was someone he had not seen in a long time? The two just met only five minutes ago, so how come it felt like they've known each other for years? It didn't make sense to the red hedgehog, who just stared in amazement at the girl.

"...Tikal..." she said.

"Eh? What was that?"  
"You asked me earlier what my name was, I d-didn't say anything because you were attacked by those guards. M-My name is Tikal." she said, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Tikal eh?" He asked, smiling back at her. "It's a pretty name."

Tikal blushed again, obviously not used to getting compliments from others. Sky chuckled a bit, he couldn't help but find her cute as her face turned light pink. He was about to flirt once more, but a more important manner came to him as he came back to his senses.

"Just how did you do that? That healing power thing, and what do you mean that me and you are just alike?"  
Tikal snapped back to reality, remembering what she said to him before she healed his arm. She sat down in front of Sky as she began to explain.

"You know your fire powers, correct?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Well, you are a chosen spirit to hold the power of a legendary and powerful gem," Tikal explained, "A Chaos Emerald."

Sky raised an eyebrow in confusion at this statement.

"What do you mean? What's a Chaos Emerald?"

Tikal sighed, she closed her eyes and held her hands out in front of her chest in a circular formation. A bright light began to shine as something emerged from within her body. Sky's eyes shrunk at the sight, there floating in between her two hands was a yellow gem that glistened with some of the most beautiful light anyone has ever seen. After a few seconds of being out of her body, Tikal recalled the emerald back into its holder with little effort. She opened her eyes and smiled gently at Sky, who was awe struck with amazement at the sight.

"That...that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen!" He proclaimed, excited at the very sight of the emerald's presence.

"T-Thanks." Tikal said, embarrassed once more, "But what's more important is that you hold an emerald within your body as well."

"I do as well?" Sky asked, full of energy after looking at the emerald that Tikal had showed him.

"Yes." She answered, "I'm guessing by your element, you hold the red Chaos Emerald within your body. Interesting element indeed, probably the most balanced of all the elements."

"Wait," Sky said, "There's more of these emeralds? Just how is that possible?"

Tikal sighed. Just by judging her sigh alone, Sky had put together that apparently there was a lot more to their powers then he thought. Her smile turned to a frown as she looked at him again, her blue eyes filled with a certain sadness.

"It's a really long story..."

The two spent an hour on the roof as Tikal told Sky the tale of the Chaos Emeralds. How they came to be, what happened to them in the past, who created them, and what happened a foreign king tried to take control of all of their powers as well as the legendary Master Emerald that kept the seven under control. As she told him the story, Sky scratched his chin as he listened. He was actually quite surprised to know that he was part of an ancient tale that happened years before he or his brother were born. As Tikal finished her story, Sky stood up.

"So let me get this straight," he said, "The seven Chaos Emeralds have different elemental abilities and each have their own chosen wielder?"  
"Yes."

"But before that, the Emeralds were used in the second Great War, which was possibly the most deadly war that was ever fought and during that war, the gods sent the Master Emerald to keep control of the Chaos Emeralds' powers?"  
"Again, yes."

"And you're saying right now that the other Chaos Emeralds have their own spirits that house their powers, but they're separated because of their tribes?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Sky folded his arms, now tapping his foot.

"But you believe, that the spirits are meant to be together in order to bring a stop to the tribes' bigotry towards each other because each Emerald chose a different Mobian species?"  
"Yes," Tikal answered, "I believe it's meant to be, please Sky, you have to help me on this. The tribes have to be in peace with each other again. If they don't, then we're doomed to a future where Mobians would go into war for resources again."

Sky sighed, her idea was crazy, but he couldn't help but feel she was right about it.

"You know it's not gonna be easy," he said, "The tribes haven't seen eye to eye in a really long time."

"I know," Tikal answered, "but I just feel like we're meant to be together as a team. Otherwise, what other purpose would we have?"

"Well, you've already got your first team mate." Sky said, smiling at her.

"You mean you'll?"

"You got it, Sky the Hedgehog is at your service, Tikal!"

Tikal's faced suddenly grew a large grin as she hugged Sky tightly for his answer. Sky blushed a bit at this, other then his mother, he was never hugged by another girl before.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Tikal cheered, "You have no idea how nervous I was asking you to join me!"

Tikal's eyes suddenly opened quickly, realizing what she was doing she quickly pulled away from Sky. An embarrassed look was now on her face in replacement of the grinning one she had a moment earlier.

"I uh...I'm sorry you had to see that." She said, her face now completely red.

"Uh, don't worry about it." Sky said, scratching the back of his head. "Listen, I think I know who your next spirit is."  
"Really?"

"Yeah, but it's not gonna be easy..."

xXxXx

"Forget it, there's no damn way.."

Chronic growled, truly pissed off at his twin brother for not only bringing an echidna girl to their hideout but also mad about Sky not returning with any water or food.

"Ugh, somehow I knew that you would say something like that..." Sky said, obviously annoyed at his twin brother's reaction.

"Please, Chronic!" Tikal begged, "It's for the good of the tribes!"

Chronic glared at Tikal, wanting to blast her with his ice powers for what she just said. However, Sky stood between him and her which made the shot difficult to pull off. He growled and turn away from them.

"I missed the part where I'm supposed to care."

"Chronic, stop being a jackass already." Sky said, Chronic glared back at him.

"And you should feel like an idiot. You bought into this crap believing her that we have some stupid gem in our bodies that supposedly gives us magical powers. Bull shit Sky, I call bull shit."

"How else would you explain it then?" Sky bitterly asked, "You're acting more stubborn then that time that old girlfriend of your's wanted to do a night run with you!"

Chronic's eyes narrowed at Sky, an icy hue covered one of his feet as he turned back to his twin brother. Sky's eyes narrowed as well, flames covered one of his fists as the two twins continued their stare down.

"Just try it." Sky threatened, knowing what his brother was thinking. Before either could do anything though, Tikal stepped forward.

"Chronic, let me ask you something." She said, which got her a cold glare from the icy hedgehog but the icy hue that covered his foot vanished.

"Do you like the life you have now?" She asked.

"What?"  
"I asked if you like the life you have now." She said, "You know, being a thief that the townsfolk hate. Being a criminal that the guards will surely execute if they ever caught you. The life of a common thief just doesn't well...it doesn't look right the life you truly want."

Chronic didn't respond, he just continued to glare at Tikal. He was listening, but still didn't see where he would fit into the point of the plan.

"But, if you come with us to find the other spirits. You can see other tribes that don't know who you are, the crimes you did for some food, you could have a new leaf. You could have a new life, if this works, people will revere you throughout history as one of the few that helped end the hate towards other Mobians. Just think about it...you can either have the life of a criminal and one day get caught, or you could have the life of someone who the rest of time would call a hero. The choice is your's."

Chronic just stood there, the words Tikal said seemed to have hit a nerve on the icy hedgehog. He turned away from her, folding his arms in annoyance as Sky and Tikal watched him carefully. Finally, after about five minutes, Chronic turned to them with an answer in mind.

"If this plan backfires, know that I blame you both for being stupid asses."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Master and The Guardian **

Later that night, when the guards were least active, the unlikely trio packed up the necessary supplies that they would need to get through a long day of traveling. When they had everything that they needed, Sky stuck his head out of the door as he looked around for anyone that would be near their warehouse.

"Well?" Chronic asked, "are we good to go?"

"Coast is clear," Sky replied, stepping outside before Tikal and Chronic followed, "Still, we have to be careful."

"Why is that?" Tikal asked, confused.

"Listen, echidna," Chronic said, though his tone got him a glare from his brother, "I don't know how your tribe does things around night time, but here in the Fire and Ice tribe, the guards do nightly strolls every hour or so."

"Are they really that protective of their home?"

"Tikal," Sky said, stopping any chance his brother had at insulting her, "Protective doesn't even begin to describe just how nuts these guys are."

Tikal nodded at Sky, seeming to understand what the twins had told her. The trio began moving silently down the dark alleys, making sure that they didn't attract any unwanted attention from anyone. Ten minutes went by in complete silence as they continued on towards the exist of the tribe. Finally, the silence was broken by Sky.

"Just whose next?" He asked, Tikal looked at him in confusion of his question.

"Whose next?" She asked.

"You know, of these spirits that we're supposed to look for."

"Oh!" Tikal exclaimed, her confused look vanishing, "Well, I sort of already found him."

The twin hedgehogs looked at her with raised eyebrows. Tikal blushed in embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well, you see, before I ran into you two, I already knew the second Chaos Spirit. Ironically, he lives very close to my home tribe."

"Then why didn't you bring him along with you?" Sky asked, not sharing the disinterested look his brother had on.

"Well, you see...he's complicated..." Tikal explained, "He has to stay within a certain spot or something bad happens..."

"Explain it like we're kids," Chronic said, "Sky's a little dense with this kind of stuff."

"I am not! You are such a liar!" Sky retorted, glaring at Chronic.

"Uh, guys?" Tikal intervened, "Remember we are trying to get out of here without anyone noticing us."

The brothers held their little staring contest for a while then they broke it off after Tikal spoke out. The trio continued onward towards the exist, sticking close to the shadows to make sure no one could see them. Finally, after about twenty minutes top, they arrived at the exist with no guards in sight. As quickly as their legs would allow them to, they dashed towards the exist as fast as they could. Glancing behind only a few times to make sure no one was following them. They kept running as they headed up a hill that was not to far from the tribe, Chronic glanced back one last time as they reached the hill top while Sky and Tikal sat down to catch their breath.

They had no idea at the time, but that night was the beginning of their epic adventure together as a team. While tonight might have felt like more of challenge then they would ever know, they would face challenges that would make this seem like child's play.

After a while of catching their breath, the trio continued down the dark road at night, with Tikal's light guiding the way. Chronic seemed unamused as they continued to journey onward, the full moon above them glistering brightly. Sky smiled, he was very excited to see what was out in the world but at the same time he was nervous. How would the other tribes react to seeing him and his brother? It was something that was really eating at him from the inside. Tikal glanced back to the twins and smiled lightly.

"We should be approaching my tribe soon," she said, "just keep in mind that you two will have to be careful when we arrive."

"Pft, please," Chronic said, "They can't be any worse then our tribe. They did try to stone you to death you know."

"Watch it, Chronic." Sky growled, "But really, Tikal, they can't be that bad right?"

"Well..." Tikal hesitated, "No, they're not so bad about it. But they do tend to become suspicious of those who are not part of our tribe."

Before Chronic could make another remark, Sky put his hand over his twin brother's mouth before anything could be said.

"Zip it." He said, knowing fully well what his twin was thinking about saying.

"Anyway," Tikal continued, "when we reach my tribe. I want you two to head north of it while I get some supplies, OK?"

"What's so important that we would have to head North?" Chronic asked, as he pushed Sky's hand away from his mouth.

"There's something you two need to see up there." Tikal said.

"What is it?" Sky asked.

Tikal didn't answer him, the red hedgehog could tell that she was thinking really hard to answer his question. She seemed to drift off as she continued to walk down the road, she still had no answer for him as they walked.

Finally, the trio stopped walking and found a spot to rest for the night. They managed to set up a small fire place that kept them warm for the night as each of them took a turn watching out for any sign of trouble. Finally, the morning came and they resumed traveling for nearly an hour until buildings were plain to see in front of them. While Sky and Tikal smiled at the sight of the buildings, Chronic was more annoyed then happy to see civilization.

"So, this is the Light Tribe?" He asked.

"Yeah," Tikal answered, a bit pink in the face, "It's nothing too special."

The trio walked towards the tribe, the two hedgehogs glanced back and forth as they continued walking past some of the villagers expecting them to attack the moment they saw them. However, most of the echindas just smiled friendly and waved as the trio continued to walk by them. Sky couldn't believe his eyes, the tribe looked and acted so much differently than he imagined. Echidnas were already up and outside their homes, raising their crops and retrieving vegetables that were right for picking. What surprised Sky the most though was that they were very peaceful with each other, despite Tikal warning him that they would often act suspicious of outsiders.

"This place is...amazing..." Sky said, blown away at how peaceful things were compared to his own tribe.

"Well, I'll admit this," Chronic said, "It's nice to see that there's no overprotective guards around here."

"Well, there are some guards here." Tikal explained, "But they're not as high strung as your tribe's guards."

She came to a stop and turned to the twin brothers. She then pointed to the right as the hedgehogs looked on at her in confusion.

"I want you two to head that direction." she instructed, "It's there you'll see two very important things that are related to our quest."

"What about you?" Sky asked.

"Well, I'm going to buy some extra supplies for us." She said. "We can't go on an adventure without the right supplies, right?"

"Point taken." Sky said, glancing at his brother. "You ready to go see what's up there?"

"Do I have a choice?"

The twins headed into the direction that Tikal pointed them towards. Both noticing some of the light tribe members waving at them as they continued walking up the path. They did get one suspicious look from an echidna that was farming ten different crops, but they didn't run into any trouble like they thought they would have. This made Sky feel much easier inside, to know that no one was after you for such little things was a nice feeling. He turned to his brother and smiled happily as they reached the end of the village onto another road.

"This is great," He said, "They haven't even tried to blame us for anything, attack us, or get angry for our appearance!"

"You're easily amused, aren't you?"

"And you're not?!" Sky asked, "Chronic, I haven't felt this happy for a long time! You should be too, they practically saw us as just visitors who don't want trouble!"

"That's the thing though, Sky." Chronic said, "We **are** visitors."

Sky's smile vanished, he knew what Chronic was going to say. He didn't want to hear it, but the ash blue hedgehog continued.

"They're acting friendly to us because to them, they only see us being around their tribe for only a short time And I mean a really short time. If we were to live anywhere near them or in their village, I can guarantee you that the moment we decide to live among them, the same hate and fear that our tribe had for us will spawn within their hearts. Even if they don't show it with their faces, their reactions will be clear enough to read whenever they see us."

Sky sighed in defeat, Chronic was right again. The red hedgehog knew that even though the light tribe was not the same as their home tribe the odds of them sharing the same feelings towards both of the twins would build up. He glanced at his twin brother, whose expression hadn't changed since they arrived in the tribe.

"You can really kill a mood, you know that?" Sky asked, annoyed at his twin more then ever now.

"Yeah," Chronic replied, "I make being an asshole look like an art."

The twin brothers continued up the path for about five minutes, until they saw five tall pillars ahead of them. They raised their eyebrows in confusion, but ran up towards them quickly. When they arrived at the pillars, they realized they were at a rather large altar that was surrounded by more pillars then they had originally seen. It was a rather quiet and peaceful place, the altar itself seemed to have absolutely no life forms around it though, Sky folded his arms in annoyance.

"Tikal sent us here for just an empty altar? Talk about lame!"

"I don't think it's the altar she sent us here for," Chronic said, glancing up towards the top of the altar, "Look more closely."

Sky reared his head up to see what his brother was looking at. What he saw made his mouth drop in surprise. At the very top of the altar was a very large, very bright, and from what the two brothers could make out of it, very powerful emerald in the center. Sky couldn't believe what he was looking at, the emerald was so huge that it looked impossible to even pick it up. He grinned stupidly, wanting to get a closer look he started up the stairs.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to get a closer look!" Sky answered, the excitement in his eyes was back again.

"I'd think you better not go near it," Chronic advised, "You have no idea what's around here."

"Chronic, there's no one else here but us. Besides, Tikal said she wanted us to see two things, right? So the first one has gotta be this altar and the second has to be that giant emer-"

Before Sky could finish his sentence, a navy blue blur dashed out from the side of the altar and slammed a fist right into Sky's left cheek. The red hedgehog was sent flying back down the stairs from the hit, slamming into the ground with a loud thud.

"Sky!" Chronic yelled, his attention now on his brother's well being.

"Ugh," Sky moaned, rubbing his cheek in pain, "Talk about a sucker punch...what the hell just hit me?"

The two brothers looked back to the staircase. Their eyes shrunk as the being that punched Sky stood tall, it was an echidna. However, both of them could tell that this echidna was completely different from the ones back in the light tribe, there was no question about it.

He wasn't just big, he was **HUGE**. This confused the twins, they both knew that at average height, echidna males grew up to four feet tall. However this echidna was just MASSIVE. He was completely dark navy blue, with black gloves that protruded two spikes on his fists, light green shoes, a large black scar on his chest. But the thing that was the most intimidating was his how both of his eyes were completely green from the pupil to the iris. One would think he was blind when first seeing him, but based on how fast he hit Sky, there was no doubt that the echidna could see very well. He continued to look at them, his eyes burning with a ferocious power at them both for approaching the altar.

"What in the world..." Sky gaped, stunned at just how large this echidna was.

"I think you pissed him off."

"No shit?"

The large echidna continued to look down at the two brothers. For a while, he possessed the same furious rage in his eyes. Although the twins didn't couldn't tell it from their view point, his eyes went from furious rage to a surprised shock. He opened his mouth as if to say something but no words escaped from his lips. He didn't stop though, he continued to try to speak out for some time now appearing desperate to say something. But not a single sound escaped his lips.

Sky's eyes narrowed as he stood up from the spot he was punched towards. He began spinning his arms around to warm them up as he began walking towards the staircase once more.

"You wanna play rough?" he asked, the pain in his cheek slowly disappearing. "Well you got it pal!"

Sky began running up the stairs once more towards the large echidna. He reached his opponent and threw a powerful punch towards the echidna's forehead. There was a moment of silence after Sky's fist hit the echidna's forehead, which resulted in the large echidna responding to Sky's attack with his own punch. Sky however was not going to allow himself to be hit as he dodged it, landing to the side of the echidna quickly.

"You might be strong," He said, "but let's see you try to keep up with someone who has speed."

With that the red hedgehog began running around the echidna in a circle, a red blur was all Chronic could see as his brother kept his speed up. The large echidna however just stood there, as if he wasn't even paying attention to Sky. Then without warning, the echidna threw a punch straight forward, a loud crack was heard as his fist made contact with Sky's other cheek.

The red hedgehog tumbled back down the stairs once more, that was twice that he had been hit from the large echidna. As he reached the bottom of the stairs once more, he got up, rubbing the cheek that was now searing with the same pain as before. He glanced back at his twin brother, who just stood there with his arms folded.

"Are you even going to help me or not?" He asked, his cheek feeling like it was going to explode from pain.

"I might," Chronic answered, "but right now it's too much fun watching your ass getting handed to you."

"God you're an ass."

Sky turned back to the large echidna, this time he wasn't going to be knocked down so easily. His eyes flashed a bit as his two hands were soon completely covered in fire. The large echidna's eyes narrowed, as if he knew that Sky would resort to using his fire powers against such a powerful opponent. Sky smirked as he threw a barrage of fire balls towards the echidna, each one smacking him all in the same spot each time. The fireballs didn't seem to do much damage, but they were enough to barely push back the echidna some as they hit him each time. Sky gathered some more fire energy into the palm of his hand and threw a larger ball of fire at the echidna, this time when the fireball slammed into the echidna there was a small explosion of fire.

Sky's smirk was even wider this time, if anything no one who had no powers what so ever wouldn't be able to survive a force of fire like that. The smoke slowly began to clear up and standing still proud and tall was the echidna. There was barely any scorch marks on his body, which seemed to heal up quickly as he continued to look down at Sky with the same look at before. Neither of the twin brothers could believe it, after taking so many fireballs to the chest and the final fireball Sky threw, he was still standing tall.

"This guy is unreal," Sky said, his fist trembling a bit, "I hit him with enough fire power to burn a small village."

"Stop toying around then," Chronic told him, "if anything he shouldn't be alive afterward."

"And destroy this altar? Are you nuts? Tikal would be crushed if I did that!"

The large echidna snarled, this time the ground below him and the hedgehogs began to tremble violently as a dark aura covered his large body. Soon the ground stopped trembling as the echidna roared loudly; nearly piercing the ear drums of the twin brothers. Sky bit his lip, the force of the energy was so incredible that it was almost unreal. Chronic, who was doing nothing but being a specter at this point in the fight finally got into a battle stance as the echidna walked towards them.

"This is it..." Sky said, his palms sweaty as they watch the echidna approach slowly.

"Don't do anything stupid." Chronic said.

The twins continued to watch the echidna walk towards them, his dark aura pulsing each time he took a step. Finally, with a loud roar of power he rushed towards the two with speed that neither of them expected. Just as it began to look like it was about to turn into a nasty all out brawl, there was a flash of light that stopped the large echidna. Standing between him and the twins was Tikal, who held her arms out to the side.

"Stop it!" She said, "They're not our enemies!"

"Tikal! Run!" Sky yelled, "This guy is insanely strong!"

"Leave this to me, Sky!" she told him, staring down the large echidna despite being smaller than he was.

The echidna's snarl slowly began to retreat as he continued to stare at Tikal's eyes. His dark aura that was so threatening once began to disappear as well. Tikal smiled, allowing her arms to drop back down to her sides as the large echidna's rage began to disappear. Sky and Chronic however, stood in confusion as they watched this strange ordeal go out.

"That's right," she said gently, her warm smile reassuring the large fighter, "they're not our enemies. They're one of, Neo."

"Neo?" Sky asked, "that's his name?"

Neo, as Tikal called him, observed the twin brothers once more. He sighed deeply and began to climb back up the stair case to the large emerald that the altar held. Tikal sighed in relief and turned to her companions, who had very confused looks on their faces.

"How the hell did you calm him?" Chronic asked, "the monster was about to tear us apart."

"First off, he's not a monster." Tikal answered, "Second off, I was able to calm him down because I've known him for a long time."

"So like he's one of us?" Sky asked, "Or you boyfriend or something?"

Tikal blushed a bit, embarrassed by the question asked.

"Well, no. He's not my b-boyfriend." She answered, "At least he's probably about forty four years old."

"Oh!" Sky exclaimed, "I'm sorry if that seemed intruding!"

"D-Don't worry about it." Tikal said, "And to answer your other question, yes he's one of us. The one who holds the emerald of shadows, the purple Chaos Emerald."

Sky and Chronic turned their heads back up to Neo, who was now sitting on top of the large emerald.

"So how come he's staying by that emerald there?" Sky asked, "Shouldn't he come with us if he's a spirit?"

"Well, you see, Neo doesn't ever leave here." Tikal told him, "The only time I've seen him leave the altar of the Master Emerald is when he went on a rampage to find those who stole it from him."

Tikal seemed to tremble a bit in fear, this was an indication that Neo held much more power then he let on.

"He's...different when he's not near the Master Emerald." She continued, "It's like something just turns him into a powerful being that won't stop...but that was a long time ago."

"Ok," Chronic said, "don't take the giant Emerald away from him or hell breaks looks, got it. Can we get going now?"

"Hang on, Chronic!" Sky growled, "Let her finish before saying something."

Chronic snarled and glanced away from Sky. The red hedgehog sighed and turned back to Tikal, whose smile seemed to finally return to her face.

"So, what's the plan then if we can't get him to come with us?"

"We find the other spirits," Tikal instructed, "And we bring them here. Then if we can all get along together in peace here, the tribes might stop their bickering with one another and put aside their petty differences."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sky said, smiling a bit, "So, where to next?"  
"We head west from here," Tikal said, pointing to the right, "There we should find the next tribe and hopefully the next spirit."

"Let's get going then." Chronic said, glancing back at Neo, "The further away we are from him, the safer we are."

"Chronic!"

As the trio began traveling west, Neo watched carefully as they walked further and further away from the altar. He knew in the back of his mind that they would return, but he tried not to think of it. However, the twin hedgehogs, though they were still young, irked him. No matter what he tried to think of, they just kept coming back to his mind as they slowly began to disappear from his sight. Neo had a feeling deep down about these two, for some reason they were oddly...

_Familiar..._


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04: Tribe of the Waterflower**

"_How did I end up in this mess?_" the girl asked herself as she continued to run down the streets of her home tribe.

"Come back here you wench!" A voice yelled after her.

As if she was just gonna turn around and run straight into the arms of the person who was chasing her. The girl kept running down the streets, jumping over any obstacle that was blocking her path. She glanced her head back and noticed that her chaser was still following after her, with a determined look in his eyes. She groaned and turned right to another alley, which was barren. The girl continued to run down the alley, her chaser still running after her as they continued to run. However, the girl reached a dead end at the end of the alley, she was trapped! Slowly she turned to face her chaser, who was panting heavily from chasing her.

"No where to go now..." he said, approaching her slowly, "You're trapped my dear..."

"I don't think so."

The girl's hand began to glow a dark blue color as pursuer approached her. She smirked and slammed her hand on the ground. There was a tremble beneath her, which caused her pursuer to fall onto his back. A large water jet spewed out of the ground as it carried the girl away from the danger, she stuck her tongue out at the pursuer as he pushed himself back up.

"See you later, loser!" She yelled, "You can't catch me!"

The girl moved her hand to the left a bit, causing the water she rode to curve over the wall in the alley. Using all her concentration that she could muster, she managed to land safely on the ground below her feet. She smiled to herself as she stretched her arms over her head with her eyes closed, proud of her escape from the mobian who was chasing her.

"Heh, not bad." She said, "I gotta remember to use this power more often."

Before she could do anything else though, she felt a large hand grab a hold of her wrists. The girl opened her eyes in shock as she felt her wrists being grabbed suddenly. She struggled to break free from the grip, but whoever grabbed her wrists was much stronger than she was in physical aspects. She then felt a slight movement on her shoulder as her captor whispered in her ears.

"You're not getting away this time, spirit of water."

The girl groaned, trying desperately to break from free but there was no such luck as her captor dragged her towards the tribe's beach. Awaiting them there was a 'special' treatment for her, one that she was truly going to fear.

XxXx

The unlikely trio continued down the path for nearly an hour, passing many sights that the tribes probably would have never noticed. Like how some animals hunt, what animals stayed together in family groups, and how fast others were. While the walk was pleasant and relaxing for the trio, Sky was the one who was focusing on something that had been bugging him since they left. Neo, the large echidna that was the spirit of shadows. He was much larger than Sky had expected an echidna to be, but what really bugged him was how Tikal knew Neo.

"Hey Tikal, can I ask you something?" He asked, still rubbing his right cheek from the pain he had felt earlier.

"Sure." She said, "What's on your mind?  
"How long have you known Neo?"

Tikal smiled as she put her arms behind her back, looking up at the clear blue sky above the trio.

"For a while really." She told him, "When I was a young girl I used to sneak out of the tribe to explore, one day I came across the altar where the Master Emerald was and I met him there."

"Wait, he was always there?"

"Yes, Sky. He was always by the Master Emerald's side." Tikal explained, "And just like you, when I first saw him I was surprised to see how large he was. However, he's actually a softie. He may seem violent, but that's only when those he doesn't know come to close to the Master Emerald."

"How come he didn't attack you then?" Chronic asked, his arms folded across his chest as they kept walking, "That was the first thing he did when he saw Sky."

"Probably because Sky looked as if he wanted to take the Master Emerald." Tikal said, which caused Sky to blush a bit from embarrassment. "The first time I met him, I thought he would have attacked me, but for an odd reason, he let me come near him and the Master Emerald."

Tikal's smiled became a half smile, her eyes now focusing on the road they were walking on. Sky noticed the change in her smile, worried that he had hit a sore topic he sprang into action.

"If I touched on something that's sour, I'm really sorry." He said, his voice full of panic. Tikal turned her head towards him and giggled a bit.

"Don't worry," she told him, "it's just that Neo is an odd one."

"It seems like he can't say anything," Chronic said, his eyes once again full of boredom, "so how do you know his name is Neo?"

Tikal blushed somewhat, now it was her turn to be embarrassed.

"Well...I don't know actually." she said honestly, "I'm sure he has a real name, but I can't seem to figure it out. So I just call him Neo, he doesn't seem to mind it."

Sky smiled at this, it was nice to know that Tikal was at least honest with them when it came to telling the truth. His eyes soon caught glance of a building ahead of them, which seemed to tower over the forest that they were traveling in. He nudged Chronic a bit, which caught the icy hedgehog's attention.

"I believe we have found the next tribe." He said, pointing to the large building that was now plain sight.

"About time." Chronic said, "I was tried of walking."

The trio reached the entrance to the new tribe. Again they were treated with suspicious looks from the hedgehogs that were guarding the entrance, but they didn't really attack the trio. As they continued to walk down the tribe, Sky noticed a rather large body of water close to the tribe. He shivered a bit, the sight of water made him very jittery. Suddenly, there was a loud splash as water fell from one of the windows below, landing directly on Sky's head. The red hedgehog's eyes shrunk in fear as his cheerful personality was replaced suddenly by an emotion that no one would ever guess resided in him, fear. Tikal and Chronic, noticing that Sky had stopped walking, turned to face him. His entire body was now trembling in terror.

"Sky?" Tikal asked, "What is it?"

"G-Get it off..." Sky said quietly, his body still trembling with fear.

"Get what off?" She asked again, turning to Chronic in confusion, "What's he talking about?"

Chronic's lips went from his usual scowl to a uneasy look. He unfolded his arms and began walking towards his twin brother.

"It's all right," He said, in a different tone than usual, "You're just covered by some water, it's not a whole body of water."

"J-Just g-g-get it off...p-p-please!" Sky panicked, his eyes now watering from sheer terror. This was a first for Tikal, who had never seen Sky react like this before.

"Calm down," Chronic said, "you're just a little wet, you're gonna be fine."

Chronic placed his hands on Sky's shoulders, which were trembling even harder than before. The icy hedgehog sighed and put some pressure on his brother's shoulders, slowing the trembling down as Tikal approached them. She frowned, seeing Sky become so unnerved really made her uneasy and worried about her new friend. Chronic shook Sky a bit, who was still shaking from terror.

"Listen to me," he said, "you're not drowning, you're on dry land, you just got a little wet. That's all."  
Sky's breathing went from light to heavy as his brother continued to talk to him. The trembling becoming much more violent now. Tikal noticed Chronic's look becoming much more frantic, obviously something happened before to make Sky become like this. She tapped the ash blue hedgehog on the back gently, grabbing his attention.

"L-Let me try." She said.

Chronic frowned a bit, but he stepped aside somewhat as Tikal now faced the hyper ventilating Sky. She held out her arms open a bit, talking in her softest tone and friendliest voice as she approached him. The red hedgehog continued to panic, the water in his eyes began roll down his cheeks as she came near him.

"Sky, focus on my voice and my voice alone." She said, her voice had a soothing melody to it as she spoke.

"You're not in any real danger, you're completely safe here with me and Chronic. You're not drowning, it's just a little bit of water on your head."

Tikal smiled and blushes somewhat, but she wrapped her arms around Sky gently, whose shaking slowly began to die down as she continued talking to him.

"Everything is fine, I promise you. Calm down, it's going to be all right now."

Sky's eyes slowly began to drop, his trembling slowly began to stop as well as Tikal continued to talk. For some reason, he felt safe within her arms, just like how he felt whenever his mother would hug him. His trembling soon came to a full stop as his eyes closed completely. The tears running down his cheeks gently touched the ground as his breathing returned to normal. Tikal smiled at her accomplishment, releasing Sky from her hug as the red hedgehog stood there with his eyes closed. A small snoring sound could be heard from his mouth.

"He's asleep," she said, "thank the gods that he's calm down."

"Yeah," Chronic said, his usual scowl returning to his face, "otherwise we'd have to put up with him freaking out."

"Chronic, what made him so afraid of water?" Tikal asked, her face wearing a confused look.

"...It's a personal thing." Chronic said, turning away from her and his brother.

"I'm gonna go look around and see if there's any sign of this next spirit. You go take Sky to a spot where he can nap for a bit."

"Eh? How come I have to?"

"You're the one that calmed him down, not me. If you're not there by him when he wakes up, he'll start to freak out again."

The icy hedgehog began walking away from his companions, leaving a very confused Tikal behind. She sighed and turned back to Sky, who was still standing in the same spot as before. She could hear his tiny snores even from a distance, she giggled a bit and began drag him away from the street.

"Come on you," she said, "let's find a quiet spot, away from the water."

xXxXx

Chronic found himself on the sandy beach of the water tribe. The air was cool, refreshing, and it could sooth even the hottest tempers. The waves of the ocean splashed back and forth repeatedly against the golden sand, which shimmered as the sun continued to shine on the world. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold, it was enough to make almost everybody in the world smile. However, Chronic did not smile once at the sight. His icy eyes just continued to stare out at the ocean that seemed to go on and on as he was in deep thought. He sighed and close his eyes.

"Pointless," he said, "all of this is pointless."

Chronic was never one to actually believe in others besides Sky; who he considered an idiot most of the time. He knew that deep down inside, no one was ever going to earn Chronic's trust nor would he trust anyone else. Even if Sky believed Tikal's story and would always defend her from his ridiculing insults, Chronic would never believe in such things. It's just who he is and perhaps, would always remain as. However, there was a time back in his youth where he did believe in others. But that was a long time ago and Chronic had done all he could to remove the memory from his mind.

He turned around to head back up to the tribe to check up on Sky and Tikal. Hopefully he wasn't having another spastic attack like last time. Suddenly, his ear twitched as he picked up a strange sound from his right. Chronic's eyes narrowed a bit as he flick it once to make it stop twitching. But no matter what he tried, he couldn't get it to stop twitching. Groaning in annoyance he turned to where the sound was coming from and began walking towards it. Whenever his ear twitched, it meant something was going on and the twitching would not stop unless Chronic went to do something about it. The icy hedgehog kept walking, grumbling to himself as he did.

"One of these days, I'm gonna rip off my ear."

As he continued to walk towards where his ear was twitching at, he could see something come into his vision. At first, it appeared to be a traveling caravan that was stuck in the sand, but Chronic's hearing picked up a new sound. It was the sound of someone in peril...albeit not the typical sound of someone in peril. The icy hedgehog raised an eyebrow in confusion, the sound wasn't screaming at all. It was something he hadn't heard in a long time.

Laughter.

Now he was confused, something that didn't happen to Chronic often. His eyes narrowed as he came to conclusion that someone was getting tortured and began to sneak quietly on the sand, reaching a large bound of rocks that were close to where the source of the tormented laughter was coming from. Finding one that was large enough to hide him, Chronic placed his back behind the rock and glanced over the edge to see what was going on. His vision soon gave him a much clearer version of what he saw before.

In a pair of wooden stocks was an indigo blue hedgehog. Based on the sound of the laughter, Chronic could already determine that the hedgehog was a girl. She had her hands stuck in a pair of cuffs above her head and her two feet, which were bare, stuck out of the pair of stocks that held them tightly. She also wore a pink shirt similar to Tikal's, but instead had a pair of dark blue shorts on instead of a skirt. Her hair was tied into a pony tail, which violently whipped around as she shuck her head. Chronic's eyes narrowed, he could tell even from this distance that she was suffering. Then, a new voice caught his attention.

"You better give up and surrender already," it said, in a teasing voice, "or else you'll laugh your head off!"

Chronic's eyes soon caught a vision of who was tormenting the girl. It was a Mobian species that he thought didn't exist, a large badger. The icy hedgehog's mind was soon brought to the question to why a badger was in the water tribe, it didn't seem to make any sense, especially since this tribe was mostly made up of hedgehogs like himself. He snarled a bit, confusion was never his best friend when it came to things he didn't have the answers for.

Suddenly, his ears were pierced by a loud shriek from the girl. Her tormented laughter continued as the badger tickled her bare soles with his long claws.

"NO MORE!" She plead through her giggles, tears running down her face as her tormenter continued her torture. "I'M BEGGING YOHOHOHOHOHOHU!!!"

"Then give me what I want," the badger said, obviously enjoying himself way too much, "Or else I'll continue to tickle your feet!"

The girl's loud laughter continued as he continued his assault. Chronic clenched his fist in annoyance, seeing someone with a weakness like this girl made his stomach cruel with hatred. But what really made him mad, was those who would take advantage of someone's weakness. The icy hedgehog continued to watch in utter disgust. Having no desire what so ever to help this girl out, he turned to leave.

"Either you give me your powers, spirit, or I'll MAKE you give them to me!"

Chronic stopped dead in his tracks at this. He knew that his hearing would never play tricks on him, it was impossible for him to be fooled by it. He glanced back at the badger, knowing what he just said clearly. The girl, whatever she is called, was a spirit just like him and his traveling group. It seemed pretty clear to Chronic what the badger was after, but the girl on the other hand had no idea.

"WHAHAHAHAT ARE YOHOHOHOHOU TALKING ABOUHAHAHAHAHAHT?!?! LEMME GOHOHOHOHO!!!" She screamed in laughter, her face now dawning a pink blush on her cheeks.

"Gck, you stupid bitch!" The badger yelled, increasing the speed of his fingers that were already dancing on her bare soles, "I'm talking about your powers!"

Chronic heard enough. It was one thing to torment someone, but to try to take something from somebody by any means of torture is what made him really angry. The icy hedgehog jumped out from behind the rocks and landed a few feet near the badger. The sand he landed on caused a small dust cloud to appear as it hit the back of the badger hard. The badger growled in anger and turned to face Chronic, whose eyes were full of utter disgust.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" he yelled in anger.

Chronic stood there silently, his eyes so full of anger that you could see a new personality develop in his soul. The icy hedgehog raised one hand and with a swift motion, the badger's arms froze completely. This took the badger by surprise, as he did not expect another elemental power to appear. Before he had time to react though, Chronic was already behind the badger; using his speed he slammed his two fists onto the ice that had encased the badger's arms with tremendous force. The ice shattered from his punches, causing the badger to scream in pain and terror.

Chronic however, did not let up, he continued to pummel the badger into the ground continuously with his fists. The badger yelped in pain from each punch, trying to pull away from Chronic's endless attacks. The icy hedgehog's foot suddenly was surrounded by an icy hue color as he pulled his leg back.

"I'm your worst nightmare."

With incredible force, Chronic slammed his foot into the badger's rib cage. The blow itself was enough to break them but because his foot was encased by an icy hue, it did more than just that. The kick had completely turned the badger into ice. Chronic's lip curled into a snarl as he picked up the frozen body of the badger and threw it into the warm sea waters. The icy hedgehog sighed, his anger quenched from utterly destroying the badger he turned to the girl who was still locked in the stocks.

The girl, who was finally catching her breath, saw all that had happened in front of her eyes. Her tormentor, who she couldn't get away from, was defeated by someone who had powers just like herself. She noticed his glance at her, even though she was no longer in painful laughter, she had a faint blush on her face as she stared at him.

Chronic sighed and began walking towards her, instinctively the girl began to move around in her locks.

"N-No, p-please no more..." she begged, her voice weak from the continuous laughter.

"Relax." Chronic said coolly, "I'm not gonna torture you."

The girl whimpered a bit, wanting to believe him with all her heart she stopped moving. Her heart began to bound in her chest as he reached her. Chronic raised his hand and with a quick motion, completely destroyed the bounds that held her tightly. The girl felt herself land on the sand below her, which caught her off guard as she looked up at the hedgehog that had just saved her life.

"He's dead now." Chronic coldly said, "You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Y-Yes..." the girl said, blushing a bit as she put her shoes on, "T-Thank you."

Chronic snorted a bit and turned around to walk back to the tribe. The girl noticed this and began to follow him, despite seeing him kill someone, she felt safe by him.

"Y-You have powers like me, right?" She asked, her voice full of fear as he glanced back at her.

"Yeah, I do." Chronic responded, "That badger wanted something from you, your power."

The girl nodded a bit and turned towards the ocean. Chronic stopped moving and watched her hold her hands up gently. With a flick of her wrists, two large jets of water spouted from the sea as she began to make them dance around. The two jets of water spun around in the air and did things that Chronic had never seen water do before. Finally, the girl slammed her two palms together which caused the jets she was controlling to merge into one ball of water. Using all her strength she threw the ball of water out into the ocean, where it made a large splash. She turned back to Chronic, who had his arms folded across his chest.

"Impressive." He admitted.

"Thanks..." She said, blushing a bit, "By the way, my name is Reina...what's your's?"

Chronic stood there for a bit, puzzled to why she was approaching him so friendly. She could tell that he was a vicious person that you would never want to mess with. However, there was something different about this girl. It was if she knew that he was dangerous, but she didn't care about it. Chronic sighed in defeat and turned his head away a bit as he began walking again, with Reina following closely behind.

"...Chronic."

"Chronic?" Reina asked, smiling a bit, "It's a nice name."

Chronic glanced back a bit at Reina, who was still smiling despite his cold attitude. The icy hedgehog continued to walk as she followed him closely.

"I guess it is."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Winds of Change - Part 1**

Tikal sighed as she sat in an alley of the water tribe, with a sleeping Sky resting his head on her lap. Things weren't meant to be this hard, gathering the spirits should have been easier than the trials that stood in their way now. However, she did know that in the end it would be worth it. If she was able to convince a member of each tribe to live together in peace and harmony, then maybe the tribes would stop their undying hate towards each other. It was the only true shot of peace that they had left in the world. If they failed, the tribes would end up with going at each other's throats forever.

While the young echidna sat in deep thought, Sky's slept fully rested. After suffering a panic attack he needed the rest. Tikal frowned as she continued to wait for Chronic's return; with no sight of him coming back she began to wonder if he had abandoned them and went his own way. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. Although Chronic is the type of person that would gladly walk away from something he did not want to do, somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that Sky would track him down and bring his twin brother back into the adventure.

She smiled, turning her attention to the sleeping Sky. He had been so kind to her over these past few days; even though they barely knew each other he truly showed that he was a caring friend. As Sky slept an unusual sound was heard from the red hedgehog, a slight snore. She giggled; it was a sound she would never expect to come from Sky. Tikal brushed the bang away from his eyes, her smile slightly growing as she stared at his sleeping form.

"_Well…_" she thought, "_He is kinda cute…_"

As if on cue, the sleeping hedgehog's eyelids began to twitch a bit. Slowly but surely, he was waking up from his nap. Tikal continued to smile, watching him yawn slightly as he opened his eyes slowly.

At first, Sky's vision was blurry. All he could see was what looked like a strange mix of orange and tan. After blinking once, the blurs began to disappear. He groaned in annoyance as he blinked for a third time, which revealed a very familiar face to him, Tikal. Her smile was more than enough to make Sky feel happy inside, any bad feelings he felt instantly went away when she came into view. He always thought that she had a pretty face, but he would never imagine that she'd be this close to him. He blinked once more, wondering if he was truly in a dream. When he opened his eyes again, Tikal's smiling face was still there.

"Well," she said softly, "Good morning sleepy head."

"_Sleepy head?_" Sky thought to himself, confused to what she was talking about.

Then it hit him, he was sleeping on her lap! His cheeks turned dark red as he shot up from where his head rested on her lap, fully awake now as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Tikal turned her head in confusion, but her general smile was still on her face.

"I uh, um I mean I…ehehehe!" Sky said, blushing a bit more as the moment seemed to turn more awkward.

"Why are you embarrassed?" She asked, "You were just sleeping, that's all."

"Well uh…it's because I uh…well you see, I was resting my head on your lap and it might have looked like uh…like we're…um…" Sky stuttered, his face even darker as he spoke.

"Like we're what?" Tikal asked again truthfully confused.

Realization hit Sky. Tikal was oblivious to what it meant for one person to sleep on someone's lap. Not wanting to turn an even more awkward moment event more awkward he shook his head quickly, dismissing the blush that seemed to turn his entire face red. Tikal watched him as it seemed that he regained his composure.

"Don't worry about it." He simply said, "It's not important."

"Oh, OK." Tikal said as her smile returned.

"Anyway, where's that twin brother of mine?" Sky asked.

"I believe he went to find our next spirit," Tikal answered, "but it's been nearly half an hour since I last saw him."

"Oh no…"

"What is it?"

Sky's face turned to a grimace look, placing one hand on his forehead as he groaned in annoyance.

"If I know my twin brother that well, which thankfully I do, he's probably gotten into the one thing that he is way more notorious for than I am."

Tikal's smile turned into a frown.

"What's that, Sky?"

The spirit of fire sighed as he glanced back to Tikal. He knew that right now at this moment, Chronic could be doing his most infamous act back when they still lived in the Fire and Ice tribe.

"Fighting."

xXxXx

Chronic and Reina continued to walk down the streets of the Water tribe. The icy hedgehog kept silent for the most part, not so much as looking at Reina whenever she tried to gain his attention. Reina had to admit, he was a tough person to crack. She had tried everything that she could think of to get him to talk, but he would either ignore her or just simply glare at her. She folded her arms in annoyance as she followed him down the streets.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" She asked.

"No." Chronic answered, in a cold tone.

Reina didn't flinch though, she was determined to make Chronic have a conversation whether he wanted to or not.

"Tell me something, if you're such a loner, why did you save me?"

Chronic glanced back at her with the same annoyed look as before. However, Reina still didn't flinch at this glare. He sighed in defeat as he turned away as they continued to walk down the streets.

"I saved you because I knew that if that badger got what he wanted from you; Tikal would have a heart attack about it." He answered in a dull tone voice.

"Tikal?"

"Do you ever stop asking questions?"  
"Depends, do you ever stop being a prude about having a conversation?"

Chronic growled in annoyance. Never in his life had he met a girl that would talk back to him like that, with the exception of his mother. Reina was definitely one of those girls that would not back down no matter what you said to her. He usually hated these types of girls, but he restrained himself from attacking her.

"Well? You gonna give me an answer or not?"

Chronic rolled his eyes as he turned to her, arms folded across his chest as the two made eye contact.

"Fine, you want the truth? I hate everything." He said bluntly as possible, which usually would have gotten a different reaction from someone who would normally try to have a conversation with him. However, Reina just smirked at him.

"Not a good enough answer, ice boy."

Chronic scowled as Reina smirked. This girl was bound and determined to make him talk no matter what he tried. Truth be told, he was getting tired of her constant nagging. However, she interesting to say the least. Most of the girls who tried to pursue him would always back off whenever he gave his blunt answer, Reina was different however.

"So," Reina said after a few minutes of silence, "just where are these people you told me about?"

"Somewhere around here," Chronic answered, "if I'm lucky I won't run into them."

"Not much of a social person either, eh?"

Chronic scowled again as he glanced to Reina, however before anything could be said there was a loud CRACK from their right. Both of them turned to their right to see an arguing couple. One of them, the husband, was obviously drunk and the other was his wife who held a baby in her arms.  
"Woman, I told you to get back into the house now!"

"I'm not going back in that hell hole! I'm taking my son away from you and your drinking!"

The drunk got angry and threw his palm against his wife's cheek, smacking her in a drunken rage. Chronic narrowed his eyes at this sight. While he was not a very social person, nor did he care about the business of others, he despised wife abusers. Walking slowly over to the arguing couple, he caught the attention of the drunken husband.

"Stay out of this kid!" He yelled, "This is a private matter here!"

"Private huh? Then how come everyone can hear your drunk ranting?" Chronic asked as his tone became annoyed.

"What did you say punk?" The husband roared, nearly stumbling over as he walked over to Chronic.

"You heard me, asswhipe." Chronic said, not even looking him in the eyes. "I don't think you're that drunk to not hear properly."

The drunk pulled his arm back to throw a punch at Chronic in his rage. Chronic moved his head easily to the right as the punch was thrown, easily dodging it. Yelling in rage the drunk began the throw punches at Chronic in rage. Not a single one however landed on Chronic, who just kept his eyes closed the entire time he dodged. Reina watched in amusement as the drunk kept missing, smirking at the sight of Chronic making a fool of the drunk.

Chronic however quickly got annoyed with this little game. Sweeping the drunk with a swift low kick, he tripped his attacker quite easily. As the drunk fell, Chronic's right foot was soon covered in an icy blue hue, pressing it down on the drunk's chest with great pressure. The drunk struggled to get up, but the icy feeling from Chronic's right boot slowly froze his body. The ice spirit narrowed his eyes in disgust as he stared down at the raging drunk.

"It's morons like you who disgust me," He said, "you're so stupid to get drunk so early in the morning and you rant your head off about little things that you're too incompetent to understand."

Chronic rose his foot again, ready to stomp on the drunk's chest with great force.

"That's enough, Chronic!"

He glanced over to his left and scowled. Sky and Tikal had arrived at last, his brother narrowing his eyes towards him.

"I said that's enough." Sky repeated.

Chronic huffed as he pulled his foot back away from the drunk, stepping away from him as he glanced over to the wife clutching her infant baby.

"He won't be moving for a while," He said, "If you want to get away from him I suggest you grab your things and leave now."

The wife gave him a simple nod and muttered something that sounded like 'thanks' as she went back into the house. Chronic crossed his arms across his chest as he turned to Sky, annoyed that he was stopped before he could crush the drunk's ribcage.

"So, finally decided to wake?" He asked his tone back to his normal bored voice.

"It's a good thing I did." Sky replied, walking over to the near frozen drunken man and feeling his pressure points, "Otherwise this poor fool would be dead by now."

"Like anyone would notice."

Before Sky could reply with a retort of his own, Tikal took notice of Reina. She blinked a bit as the dark blue hedgehog stared at her in surprise.  
"You're…an echidna." Reina said.

"Uh-huh," Tikal said, smiling a bit in nervousness, "listen, I can explain why I'm here-"

"No need," Chronic interrupted, "I already told her our reasons for being here."

Tikal blinked in confusion at this statement before turning back to Reina. Sky raised one eyebrow at his brother before he turned to Reina as well. He smirked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"So, you're the spirit of water then." He said.

"And you two are the other spirits Chronic mentioned." Reina said, smiling a bit as she observed both Sky and Tikal closely. "I didn't expect an echidna to be travelling with two hedgehogs though."

"Well, I have a good reason for it…" Tikal said, somewhat intimidated by some stares coming from houses.

"Whatever species she is doesn't matter, we need to get moving." Sky said, turning around. "If you wanna find out more about this whole adventure, follow us."

"Follow you?" Reina asked, raising an eyebrow at Sky's suggestion. "Why would I wanna do that? This is my home you know."

"Trust me, the adventure we're on? You'll need to come with us to understand." Sky answered, smirking at her.

Reina watched the trio walk away slowly. She glanced around her slightly at her tribe slowly as she began to process her answer. If she stayed here, she would be still at home and would be safe. If she left though, she could possibly find an answer to explain why the badgers were after those with powers like her and maybe even make some new friends. She blinked once she returned her attention to the walking trio as she made her decision.

"Wait up!" She called, running after the trio.

Half an hour later, away from the Water Tribe, Tikal informed Reina on the reason why she was travelling with Sky and Chronic as well as the plan she wanted to follow through. Reina seemed really interested into this, more so than Chronic could be, as she nodded her head slowly.

"So then, you really think that all of us 'Spirits' living together would end the hatred between the tribes?" She asked.

"Well, it's worth a shot." Tikal answered, smiling somewhat, "After all, it's a good excuse to wander out to see the world."

"I hear that." Reina said, smiling as she put her arms behind her head. "At the water tribe it's nothing but the same thing every day, especially when the only big attraction of the tribe is the ocean itself."

Tikal giggled a little bit. As the two girls continued to chatter on, Chronic and Sky conversed with one another. Chronic informing his brother of the encounter he had while rescuing Reina.

"So wait, this thing that was torturing Reina was a badger?" Sky asked, folding his arms.

"Yes, dimwit. I'm sure of it." Chronic answered, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Why would a badger come out of no where?" Sky scratched the bottom of his chin, "They've never bothered anyone else for ages."

"Who knows who cares?"

"If it involves something to do with us, we SHOULD care, bro." Sky sternly said, "This is serious if they're after the powers the spirits hold."

"Hey boys!" Reina suddenly said, "If you guys haven't noticed you're heading the wrong way!"

Sky and Chronic stopped walking the moment she said that. Looking down at the ground, they both realized they had travelled off the trail. Turning around to meet up with Tikal and Reina once more, Sky scratched the back of his head.

"Heheheh, sorry about that." He said, "We got caught up in a conversation."

Chronic just rolled his eyes at his brother's statement.

"Anyway, I hope you two are ready." Tikal said, pointing towards the end of the trial. "The Wind Tribe is just at the end of this trial, we have to be careful."

"Those bats can be crazy," Reina said, putting her hands on her hips, "The only reason why our two tribes haven't killed each other is because we have a trade that is too valuable to break."

"So why are we bothering going to them?" Chronic frowned, crossing his arms across his chest, "Unless we need something from them I doubt we should stop by them."

"I sense that another one of the Spirits is there," Tikal said, "I believe that our next group member could possibly be one of the strongest warriors of the clan there."

Sky raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"And who might that be?"

"Princess Gale," Tikal answered, "Rumors have it that she's a master of combat tactics and seems to bend the wind to her own will. With her help and political experience, she'd be a great help to our cause."

"If she agrees to it," Reina said, putting one finger up, "Gale is…sharp tongued mildly putting it. She might just bump us off with a snarky remark."

"We won't know unless we try." Sky said, walking ahead of them.

The others shrugged their shoulders as they continued down the trial alongside him. It took them nearly another half an hour to reach the end of the trail. All four of them were in awe at the sight of the tribe. It was established into the wall of a great rock as many bats flew from one area to another. At the gates stood two guards, who raised their spears up as the traveling group approached the tall gate.  
"Hold it right there outsiders," the female guard said, clenching her spear tightly, "state your business here or be skewered."

"Hey hey, easy now…" Sky said, raising his hands up, "We're not here to cause any trouble."

"Speak for yourself."  
"Shut up, Chronic."

Tikal stepped forth slowly, holding her own hands up as the second guard pointed his spear at her.

"He speaks the truth; we have no reason for wanting to fight with you. The Light Tribe recognizes the mighty power of the Wind Tribe." She said.

"Likely story," The female bat said, "Pachacamac is known for trying any sneak attack, echidna."

"I assure you, as a member of the Water Tribe, that there are no strike teams following us." Reina said, walking forward now.

"A member of our neighboring tribe eh?" The male guard said, raising his spear away from the group.

"Yes," Reina said, "The Water Tribe would never endanger the Wind Tribe deliberately. We need the trade route for our house repairs. All we seek is to speak with Princess Gale."

The two guards hesitated for a bit, but the female guard flapped her wings once and flew off into the air towards one of the biggest houses in the tribe. After a few minutes of waiting patiently, there was a sudden gust of powerful wind. The group covered their eyes in an attempt to try and protect their eye sight from debris flying by them. Slowly the wind slowly began to die down as a new bat flew down from the big house. Just by looking at her, the group could tell that this was indeed a very strong being.

The princess landed on the ground slowly and raised her eyes up to the four. Her light yellow hue seemed to shine in the bright sky and her camouflaged war outfit sent out a simple message. 'Don't mess with me.' Gale crossed her arms in annoyance as she stared at the odd group. Finally she broke the silence that had occurred when she began her flight.

"All right, what the hell do you people want?"

To Be Continued…


End file.
